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Four quests to complete this part of the tutorial. A crafting tutorial at the Blacksmith, an alchemy tutorial at, unsurprisingly, the alchemist, a "socialization" tutorial at the inn, and then a quest for the innkeeper, apparently a huge rat problem. I guess I might as well do them in order, pulling up the menu, and turning on the marker for the quest, following it deeper into the city, not too far away from the quest board was the market district, and the craftsfolk were nearby. He knew he was close, even without the alarm, from the sound of the clang of metal ringing into the air. He turned a corner to find the source of the sound, a hammer, pounding into a folded sheet of metal, red hot from the fire underneath the anvil. The hammer was held tightly in the hand of a black bull, a goliath of a man, easily a foot taller than me, even while hunched over the anvil, the apron blackened with ash from the time spent. His eyes flicked up to mine, before going back to his work. "Hello," I said, walking closer, "I'm here to learn how to craft?" The man nodded, grabbing a pair of tongs, picking up the metal piece, and holding in a vat of water as steam filled the air. After a moment, he set the piece, a blade? To the side, and straightened up, an easy smile coming to the otherwise tough features. "Alrighty, sorry, cutie, had to finish that bit up. So, I'm going to teach you the basics of metallurgy and leatherworking, okay? In Alt3rnate, there is no magic "Put a few things in a grid and they transform into something else" system. Even when you're working with magic, you'll still need to put in the work. Unless... Well, I'll explain that afterwards. So," and he clapped his hands together, "We'll go ahead and begin witb leatherwork! Come with me."

I followed him past the anvil to a simple structure, a cloth spread over four wooden poles to make shade, over a table, with a few storage containers. He gestured at me to sit down, and then laid down a piece of leather in front of me. "Leather is dropped from beast-type foes, assuming they have a pelt big enough to be useful. Luckily for you, it's dropped in a condition in which it's easily usable, supple enough to work with, but the leather itself is tough enough to form good containers, clothing, or even armor. I say lucky because the process of preparing the leather takes around four months, normally. Now, let me show you how to actually shape the leather." What followed was a short amount of time where he showed me how to sew together the pieces of leather, and in no time I'd formed a satchel, something I'd need to carry around drops from enemies, as the only things I'd automatically carry would be my equipped items, armor, weapons, and accessories. Everything else I'd have to carry like normal. He also explained to me that I could inscribe certain runes onto my bag to increase it's carrying capacity, but that would be shown to me later, the quest would unlock at level 5. Next, we went back to the anvil, and he showed me how to take iron bars, also dropped from enemies, but also found around the world from mining deposits, and turn them into a dagger, the starting weapon I'd chosen in character creation. It was an involved, difficult process, and I wasn't nearly as good at smithing as I was with the crafting. After trying to show me from the side how to get the most power out of my hammer swings, he got behind me, and grabbed my wrist, guiding me gently through how to do it, which was both really nice, as I slowly got better, but was also really awkward, as he pressed into me. He was so much bigger than me, my head was at his stomach, and he was having to awkwardly bend down for this. Eventually, finally, the dagger was ready to be cooled off, and, while it was in the water vat, we sat down on a bench, and he looked at me. "Now, cutie, because I gave you the materials, you will need to pay me for the items you've made. If you do it all yourself, you won't have to, obviously. It'll be twenty-two gold pieces, or gp for short. Ten for the two pieces of leather, and twelve for the iron. You should have fifty gp on you?" I pulled up the menu, and sure enough there was a small section on it for money, there was cp, which I assumed was copper pieces, sp, for silver, gp, for gold, pp, for platinum, and then 3 more slots that simply held "??". "However," the smith spoke again, catching my attention once more, a smirk appearing on his face, "You could pay in a different way, cutie." I blinked at him, and he cupped my chin in his thumb and forefinger, "For showing you how to pound the metal with the hammer, I could bend you over my anvil and pound you with my... Hammer... What do you think, cutie?" I felt my face heat up as I blushed, taken aback by just how open he was being. A popup appeared in front of me, an offering for a quest, "Romancing NPCs and Enemies Tutorial: Accept? Y/N" I just wasn't ready for it this quickly, and apologized, telling him so, and refusing the popup, as well as the followup, "Are you sure? Defeating enemies in different ways gives different rewards. Y/N?" I paid him the gold, and, as I was walking away, he stopped me with a hand on my shoulder, "Oh, I should mention. If you don't want to put in the effort, there are numerous craftspeople around the city, whether players, or NPCs. If you supply the materials, you can get it cheaper as well, but it's still going to be more expensive than making it yourself, since you're paying for the labor. Enjoy your time!" I thanked him, and moved on. Next up, Alchemy.

Alchemy went much the same as crafting, except they actually had a building. A wooden structure, with a sign proclaiming it as "Primrose Potions, Poultices and Plentiful Prizes". With the name, I'd guess Primrose would be some kind of fairy, maybe an elf or even a halfling/hobbit, I certainly wasn't expecting Primrose to be an orc (and not one of the overly sexualized ones, just an actual female orc!) with long black, straight hair complimenting the green skin, with a glare that could melt stone, but after I complimented her on the flowers that decorated the chaotic space that was the storefront, she was a lot more willing to take me into the back and show me some of the basic work that went into alchemy, from selecting ingredients for the intended item - and learning the properties, to know how to figure out what to add for different types of potion - as well as the kinds of plants you'd want to pulp to make a medicinal poultice. Even with my increased intelligence, it was tough to remember, and I was very grateful for the tutorials menu that would keep all this information. She also gave me an "Alchemy Journal" which kept track of the properties of each plant, or even monster parts I learned about, as well as possible things I could make with them. Very cool stuff! With that taken care of, I'd finally learn what the "socializing" quest entailed, hightailing it to the inn.

Both of the remaining quests were, heh, inn here. The inn was massive, clearly a gathering hub for people of all kinds, whether those looking for adventures, or people to join them on their journeys, or through a dungeon, but also for those who mostly just spent the time enjoying the fantasy bar, as, Alt3rnate wasn't only meant for adventurers, no, anybody could find, or even make, the role they wanted to be. It wasn't just a game, you could make a whole new life in here, even if the life you wanted was just to have a farm, growing all kinds of strange new plants, as well as the basics. If you wanted to add a bit of excitement? There could be monster raids that you could fight off! Or just large amounts of wild animals. Or even a freaking eldritch entity that you have to pay other Alt3rs to deal with. The draw was massive to everyone, but especially the older people, there was a specific ad campaign just for the older people, inviting them to "Feel again, just like a healthy adult!" but even with this knowledge, I still wasn't prepared for the sheer number of Alt3rs in this inn. Directly opposite to the entrance was the bar, with multiple maids and other bartenders bustling around to help all the customers, a buxom human women tossing a wink to a giant cyclops as she passed him his drink, another human women, modeled off that game and movie character... Laura Craft, I think? Carrying a plate with way more beers on it than it looked like anyone could carry walking towards a table of people who cheered at the sight, most of them clearly several drinks in. A dignified elven gentleman polished a glass behind the counter as he took the order of the centaur with a long flowing white beard. And every single one of them had the crystal over their heads that showed them as being Alt3rs, as opposed to NPCs. It was complete chaos, but somehow organized in itself? Then, off to the side, were more official looking tables that the yellow marker directed me to, one with a half-orc in almost full shining platemail, without his helmet- the first NPC I'd seen in the inn so far - sitting ramrod straight, and stood to shake my hand as I approached. Torches held in sconces regularly placed around the large room lit up the tables all around with a lovely shade, making it really easy to loom around. If I had to suspect, there'd be likely a bit of tinkering with the torches to make the lighting easier to light up the whole inn, as it was very nicely lit. "Welcome!" the armored individual spoke, "I hope you've had a pleasant journey leading to this point?" I nodded. His easy way of speaking somehow had a volume to it as well, I could easily hear him over the other inn-goers. "You must be here for the socialization tutorial, to learn about our guilds-" "And party system! You wouldn't forget me now, wouldja, Ardent?" to the guild table's left was another one, with a hobbit wearing leather armor, idly tossing a dagger in one hand, laying back in his high chair with feet kicked up on the table. There seemed to be many people at each of the tables, so it was interesting to see their full undivided attention to me. Could it be perhaps, each person could talk to these two on their own time, seeing their own version? It made sense to me, guilds and looking for a party for various things? Of course that'd have more people than the average vendor. The half-orc rolled his eyes before continuing, "No, Sakan, I could never forget you, not with your constant interruption and annoyances. And can you not sit properly? At least pretend to have some semblance of pride and decency?" he let out a sigh, before turning back to me, clearing his throat. "Ehem, anyways. We quickly learned adventurers are weak alone normally, but can be quite strong in a group. Thus, guilds slowly started forming, groups of adventurers who work for the glory, and the betterment of the guild, and themselves! And not everyone in a guild has to be an adventurer, there's a place for everyone of a useful trade! In a few levels, you'll be able to join one, but this explanation is here so you can know to meet people, make friends, and maybe you'll be able to get into a slightly better guild than without. "And to meet people, you can come to me!" the hobbit piped up again, the guildmaster begrudgingly letting him speak, "Now, you could of course find people in your travels, and work with them, but, if you want to deal with something, or heck, even just find someone to chat with, I'm your guy! For "instance", haha... No reaction? You'll get that one later, you might recall that huge rat problem quest? It might be a little bit difficult on your own... So, now that you've heard the guild introduction, your socialization quest will be complete once you've gained a party member, and gone through the final part of the tutorial quest. Capiche?" I responded affirmatively, and, before I'd even started to try and use the party member system, someone walked up to me. A... Lion dragon hybrid? He was a huge man, like 7' 11 if I had to guestimate, built like a truck, wearing chain armor, steel gauntlets and greaves, with a deep blue cloak that contrasted the gold fur very well, with a white, mane like frill circling his neck. He had slightly curved horns extending upwards from his head, and those, as well as the draconic wings tucked closed to his back, showed the dragon mixed in. Throwing in a race just for the wings? Powergaming, much? Well, maybe he could help me, I thought, as he began speaking, his voice a powerful, confident rumble. "Hello, am I correct in assuming you've just finished talking to Sakan, and the Paladin, Ardent?" I nodded, "Indeed, why do you ask?" He smiled, "Well, I have as well, so it seems like we're both in need of a party member to complete the quests? Unless of course, I've overstepped my boundaries, and you've already got someone on the way, if so, please forgive me." Well, at least the guy spoke well. It seemed like he knew pretty well what was going on, was he also new? Eh, might as well take advantage. "You aren't bothering me at all, as a matter of fact, you're right, I do need a party member. I would be happy to work with you through this quest!" I swept one hand out to the side as I bowed, enjoying this, "My name's J- Pyrus, it's good to meet you." I stuttered slightly, it felt so much like a real normal conversation I almost gave him my name, heh. "And what might you be called, new friend?" He bowed in return, almost a royal elegance to his. Had he practiced this??? "Regal, at your service, friend Pyrus. If you invite me to your party, we can go ahead and talk to the innkeeper, and get things started!" I knew how to do that... I drew my pinched fingers along my arm, pulling up the menu, surely it'd be... Yup! "Party" right there! I tapped it, bringing up the menu, and sure enough, "invite player" was there. I tried putting in "Regal" but there were a bunch of options, but luckily each had an image of the alt3r so I was able to find him, then invite. He pulled up a menu of his own that I couldn't see, and soon enough he was in my party. I whistled, apparently him being in my party meant I could see his stats. Str. 14, Agil, 10, Health, 14, Int, 10, and Cha, 12. So he was going frontliner, huh? That would work well, he could draw attention and I'd aim for weak points.

"Neat!" I spoke aloud, "I guess let's move to the innkeeper then." I walked over to the bar, where the marker showed, and it was the flirtatious woman from before, smiling at me. "Good morning to you, adventurers! What can I get for you?" I brought up the quest, and she nodded in recognition. "Ah yes, we've been plagued, it's so bad my husband and I can't even get down to our finest drinks! I do hope you can deal with the problem?" I was surprised at her mention of a husband, with the way I'd seen her act before... Wow, I guess people really did just do whatever they wanted, huh? Even the NPCs could be shockingly forward with their desires, I knew that full well. I would have to learn if that was something I even wanted to do. Oop- spent a bit too much time thinking about that, the silence was getting awkward. "Of course we'll be able to do it. Just lead us to the cellar, and we'll be done in two shakes of a rats tail!" A nearby ratfolk gave me an annoyed glance at that one. Whoops, could that be considered racist? It was a saying... Anyways, the innkeeper's wife pointed out a wooden door to us, and we moved over there. Touching the door brought up a menu, "Huge Rat Problem: Enter Dungeon? Y/N" I looked over at Regal, "Are you ready?" He nodded, patting the greatsword sheathed to his back. And I said yes to the menu, and it responded with an "Instance generated. Teleporting..." and the world melted around us. It was pure light around us, a blank space that I could somehow feel whirling around me, until it put together stones, stairs leading underground, with more torches on the walls lighting the way. "Woah..." I breathed out, almost a whisper. Like, I'd known this was all a big game, but man, something about that just had my heart pumping. I was ready to deal with a horde of rats, I was so excited. I lifted a torch out of it's wall-mount, you never could be too careful, after all. Regal reached a hand towards me, "Here, let me. If I can guess from the stat spread you went with, and the dagger in your hand, you're going for the kind of guy who'd strike from the shadows, right? I can hold the light." A funny look passed over his face as he mentioned the stats, but changed back to the usual smile so quickly I almost thought I imagined it. I went ahead and passed him the light, impressed by how quickly he'd figured out my gameplan. "You seem to know a fair bit about this, is this your second alt3r?" He laughed, "I've played a bit, this is actually. My third, though I didn't get far with the second. I tried playing a spellcaster, but I got bored, so now I'm trying out being a tank. Don't worry, I won't spoil anything for you!" Got it, I thought so. I was just about to ask him how far into the game he'd played when I realized something. We were fully into the cellar now. Where were the rats? I muttered the thought aloud, and heard, rather than saw, Regal's smile in his words, "I'm sure they'll appear soon." Okay... We kept moving. The cellar was unsurprisingly large, given the amount of patrons they got. Walking through, we'd find some of the huge barrels lining the walls were broken, trickles of wines and other drinks moving across the ground. Eventually we found our way to the other side, where a tunnel was? Compared to the stone blocks that formed the rest of the underground space, this looked like... Something broke through? This tunnel was about half my height, those would be some impressively sized rats. In fact, I remembered rats could fit through deceptively small spaces, which would mean... "Wait a minute..." I spoke, right as a thumping sound banged behind me, and I turned to see a... Well, huge rat, a little bit bigger than me, having just slipped in a pool of liquid, getting back to it's... Clawed feet? I didn't think that was normal... Bot that I should expect normal in a fantasy game. It's bright red eyes glaring at us, I slapped a hand to my face as Regal laughed next to me. "Huge rat problem... Of course. How did I not see this coming?" I didn't get much more time than that as the rat charged. I dived to the side, grateful for the points in agility as I easily rolled to my feet, seeing Regal unsheath a smaller longsword, and a large shield, which he touched to his forehead, and spoke, "Taunt." and the rat's gaze fixed on him, a red glow forming around him for a moment before disappearing. Regal had skills already? I didn't even have one yet. I guess that would likely be a knowledge difference. I would have to explore later, but first I couldn't let this opportunity go to waste. I dashed forward, swiping up my dagger, intending to try and slice up it's jaw, to it's eye, but unfortunately Regal had already stabbed his longsword into the side of the beast's jaw, deep into its shoulder, and my dagger clanked off the longsword. I looked over with a guilty look to see Regal looking at me as if I were crazy. "Leave this part to me! You use a dagger, go for its vitals!" Oh. Yeah that makes sense. I dodged backwards as the rat swiped a claw at me. It seemed... Strangely slow and inaccurate, almost as if... Oh. It's drunk. After the time down here, the broken barrels suddenly told a story, of a thirsty giga rat smelling something drinkable, and breaking the barrels to get to it. The claws did scrape off Regal's armor, causing him to wince from the impact, but he held firm, shoving the rat to the side, exposing it to me better. Taking a breath of a moment to examine in, I plunged the dagger into its side, toward my best guess of where its heart would be, and felt the satisfying contact of the blade sinking in deep, and I heard a schling _noise that I instinctively knew was a crit. Nice! Feeling a bit more comfortable now, I flipped over the rat as it tried to retaliate with a bite, whacking it on the head with the pommel of the dagger to stun it, so I could aim for another crit... But it recovered in barely a moment, a mix of it being stronger than I expected, and also my dagger not being the best weapon for the hit. It managed to sink it's teeth into my side, causing a flare of pain to run through me as I yelped. Regal bashed the hilt of _his sword against the rat's teeth, sending more pain signals through me as it broke some of the teeth, but it did prompt the behemoth to let go of me, even if some of the teeth stayed. I stepped back as Regal hit the wall nearby, having gotten hip checked by the thrashing enemy. Looking at it's HP, or hitpoints, how much health it had left, we were almost there. "One more push. Easy, right?" I smiled to the side. Even with the pain, my heart was soaring. This was everything I'd dreamed of. I moved to the side, flanking the monster, before we moved in at the same time, Regal slammed the point of his sword down, through the rat's jaw into a crack in the ground, wedging it in place as I plunged my dagger deep into its eye, and twisting it further in place. The monster roared in pain, a few more feeble attempts at movement left before finally it collapsed. I heard a ding, as both Regal and I were awarded enough exp to level up. Every level up gave three stat points, and every other level gave a skill that would be based off a hidden tracker that apparently judged what skills to randomly give based off your encounters, whether social or combat. I received Stealth, which would allow me to hide better, even muting any scents on my person. Nice! There was also an orb, with an image, of a person... Running? On the ground, which I promptly picked up, however, I didn't expect it to explode into a burst of light rays, which penetrated me, and a pop up appeared, "Skill: Lunge acquired" Regal grinned at me, "A lucky bastard, I see, I had to grind this guy several times for that. Congrats!" I split the other drops, some gold and materials, with the... "Oh yeah, I meant to ask, you're a dragon and lion hybrid, right? What do you call that?" Regal laughed, extending his wings so I could see, "Yup! Technically it's in here as a Li-gon, but that sounds like the setup for a silly joke, so I've been going with Dr-ion. It just sounds cooler." I nodded in return, that did make sense. Well then, everything acquired, the pop up to leave the instance appeared, and we left, back to the inn, for the rewards from the quest, and to end the tutorial!